


A Most Unfortunate Connection

by Courtney621



Category: AUSTEN Jane - Works, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: in which the darcys are delightfully catty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27042076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Courtney621/pseuds/Courtney621
Summary: The Darcy family receives tidings of an engagement.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 190





	A Most Unfortunate Connection

It was a brisk, beautiful autumn morning, and the view from the breakfast parlor at Pemberley was a riot of color. Elizabeth Darcy, in the company of two of her favorite people and with a letter from her dearest sister waiting to be read, was feeling enormously content. She and Fitzwilliam were to take a long walk in the grounds after breakfast, and Elizabeth was eager to experience Pemberley Woods at its full, autumnal best. Later, perhaps, she would read or work while Georgiana played. Georgiana had been focusing her attentions on the harp as of late and Elizabeth found it quite soothing to listen to her. It was going to be a lovely day. She sipped her tea and read her letter.

“I have some news from Jane,” she announced.

“Oh?” said Fitzwilliam, glancing up from his newspaper. “Has Young Bingley arrived at last?”

“No,” said Elizabeth, “that little visitor is still most unpunctual. This is news of a different kind. It seems a friend of ours is engaged to be married.”

Something in the tone of her voice made Fitzwilliam put the paper down, and Georgiana looked at her with still more curiosity.

“Yes,” said Elizabeth, rather enjoying herself, “we must congratulate Caroline Bingley. Or, as she will soon be known, her Ladyship.”

“Oh dear,” said Fitzwilliam dryly, “she is sure to be more than usually insufferable now.”

“But how indelicate of you to say so!” cried Elizabeth.

They grinned at each other.

“How blessed we are, Fitzwilliam, to be friends with so many important people.” 

“Yes, and Miss Bingley has always longed to count herself among them.” He exchanged a glance with Georgiana, who looked down at her plate quickly, smothering a smile.

“Now, now,” said Elizabeth, not bothering to check her own, “I think that is rather unfair. Despite what the two of you seem to be surmising, Jane is quite sure that the choice is a disinterested one and that there is very great affection on Miss Bingley’s part.”

“I am sure Miss Bingley is verydisinterested in a title and an estate,” said Fitzwilliam.

“You are impolitic towards our friend!”

“Indeed, if _Jane_ believes that the intentions of the parties concerned are honorable and just, then I must be mistaken. It would certainly be ungentlemanly of me to suppose Miss Bingley’s feelings are less than what they ought to be, and I wish her every happiness.”

Elizabeth playfully nudged his foot with hers from beneath the table. “Miss Bingley is nothing if not sincere and forthright in all of her actions, as we all know.”

“And who is she engaged to?” asked Georgiana.

“Yes, I have been very remiss in not asking,” said Fitzwilliam. “Who is the lucky man?”

“A Lord Osborne of Osborne Castle,” said Elizabeth, reading from the letter. When she looked up again, she saw both Fitzwilliam and Georgiana staring at her, startled. 

“Have you heard of him?” she asked, surprised. 

“We are related,” said Fitzwilliam. “Distantly. After a fashion.”

Elizabeth, used to the number of noble families that Fitzwilliam could count among his distant relations, was not entirely shocked by this.

“Well,” she said, “Miss Bingley is already a relative of ours, after a fashion, and as Lord Osborne cannot be called a _close_ relation, it will not be introducing a new evil.”

“No,” said Fitzwilliam wryly, “but it is rather unfortunate to reinforce the connection.”

"Where did they meet?" Georgiana asked.

"In Bath," answered Elizabeth, referring back to her letter. "Is it a good match, do you think?"

"It is certainly an advantageous one, for the Bingleys," shrugged Fitzwilliam. "But as to anything more substantial than that, I am not well enough acquainted with Lord Osborne to say."

"As Miss Bingley has herself been in Bath for less than a month, it is uncertain whether she could say much more on the subject."

Elizabeth did not disagree with the sentiment, but it was entertaining to hear Georgiana express it.

"I wonder if we will be invited to the wedding," mused Elizabeth, looking forward to laughing at the spectacle.

"I doubt that Miss Bingley will overlook any opportunity to display her good fortune to all who are connected with her."

They all sat quietly for a moment, absorbed in their own thoughts.

“Of course,” said Georgiana, breaking the silence, “Osborne Castle is in Surrey, and it has been many years since we have seen any of the Osbornes at all. What a pity that we shall, most likely, not see much of the new Lady Osborne!”

Fitzwilliam choked on his tea, muffling his laughter. “You are quite right, and a sad loss it will be. Well, I suppose I must write to congratulate Lord Osborne on gaining a most exacting wife. I do hope that the poor fellow has an excellent library. Miss Bingley was very enthusiastic on that point, as I recall, and it would not do to disappoint her.”

“You are both being rather horrible today!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “I have been a very bad influence, indeed!”

Georgiana bit her lower lip to hide her smile, but her eyes were sparkling as she returned to her plate. Fitzwilliam mopped up his tea, his laughter successfully stifled but his face still lit up with amusement. She looked at them warmly, suddenly overwhelmed with affection for the two of them. They had been such a reserved, serious pair before Elizabeth arrived at Pemberley, and it was good to see them more lighthearted now. It had been her duty, and a very gratifying accomplishment, to encourage their playfulness, even if it was a quieter variety than her own and Caroline Bingley rather an easy object of ridicule. She beamed at them both, finished her breakfast, and stood up.

“Come, Fitzwilliam,” she said, putting on a very de Bourghian air of imperiousness, her nose in the air. “I may not have the rank and consequence of a _Lady Osborne_ , but you have promised me a walk and I will be most seriously displeased if you do not keep your engagement.”

And so Elizabeth spent the morning arm in arm with her husband, perfectly convinced that no great lady could be as happy as she was.


End file.
